


Pikmin Colors

by zavegonzo



Category: Pikmin (Video Game)
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Adventure, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Mild Language, Minor Violence, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Unrealistic Depictions of Linguistics, leg injuries, the Pikmin world is not a good place to live in
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-17
Updated: 2018-07-17
Packaged: 2019-05-30 00:41:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15085274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zavegonzo/pseuds/zavegonzo
Summary: Two boys, Johnny and Dave, find that they've become Pikmin after finding some weird flowers... Will they get back to being human? Or will they stay as Pikmin for the rest of their lives?





	1. Active Vegetables

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fanfic that I originally posted on FF.net in 2017, and is still being written as of 2018. Please forgive the use of conventions from that site that are odd here, such as author's notes. This first chapter is... average. In fanfic terms, at least. I'm not very happy about it, as my writing skills have considerably improved since I started writing this, but it's the first chapter. Look forward to better chapters in the future, and please leave a comment!

It was a typical, peaceful spring afternoon; birds were chirping, flowers were being pollinated, and on this specific day two kids around the age of 12 were eating lunch at school and talking.

"Hey, Johnny!" one kid said to the other.

"Yeah, Dave?" the other kid, Johnny, replied.

"I dare you to stay in that cave next to your home overnight!"

"Uh," Johnny paused, surprised by the suddenness of the dare. "OK, Dave, but that seems pretty easy. I know it's a dare and all, but do I get anything if I do it?" The one who started this conversation, Dave, thought for a moment, before saying "I'll give you ten dollars, and if you can't do it, _you_ have to give _me_ ten dollars!"

Johnny thought it over, taking a bite of his sandwich he got for lunch. _'Is that seriously it?! That's super easy! I'm not afraid of the dark, so it's not much of a challenge, and it's for ten bucks_ _… It's not much, but it's practically free money!'_ he thought.

"Sure," he agreed.

"Alright! Make sure you're there by 6 o'clock!" Dave said enthusiastically. "And just to make sure, I'll stay just outside the cave while you're there," he continued. Johnny halted for a moment, dumbfounded. "Can't I just… record my time there with a camera or something?" he asked. "Oh, you could just make it to look like you stayed there! Y'know, video editing and all that," Dave replied.

Johnny stared at Dave in bewilderment. _'What kind of tech wizard does he think I am?'_ he thought, taking another bite of his sandwich. "I… I _guess_ that makes sense," he lied. Dave frowned at Johnny's tone. "What, do you think it's a stupid idea?" "No, no! I don't think it's stupid!" Dave paused for a moment, eventually replying, "Okayyy…"

"…Remember to do it, alright?" he asked. "Alright," Johnny reaffirmed, taking yet another bite of his sandwich. "Good," Dave said.

Staying true to his word, Johnny remembered his promise, and he went to that cave just a dozen yards away from his house right at 6 PM, with a flashlight in his pocket. Dave was sitting next to the cave's mouth, looking bored and glancing occasionally at a watch on his wrist. "Oh, Johnny! I was almost starting to think you forgot!" said Dave as he noticed Johnny approaching. "Well, why'd you think that? I'm right on time, aren't I?" Johnny replied. Dave checked his watch. "Ah… Yeah, you are," he admitted. "OK, nice. See you tomorrow!" Johnny said as he walked into the cave, pulling a flashlight out of his pocket. "Okay~!" Dave replied, taking out an old hand-me-down Game Boy from his pocket.

In the cave, Johnny turned on his flashlight. It was just a normal cave. Some stalactites hung tightily from the cave's roof, and stalagmites stood up mightily from the floor. He walked further into the cave, looking around. The cave was a bit deep, about the size of a house if the second floor was taken off from above the first and laid down parallel to it. After a few minutes of walking around, Johnny wandered into a roomlike fissure and noticed some strange flowers growing in some dirt. The flowers were brightly red, yellow, blue, purple, white, gray, and pink, with the gray and pink ones sticking up like cups and the rest lying flat against the ground. "Woah," Johnny said in wonder. "These are some weird flowers…" He walked towards the yellow flower, his favorite color, and examined it closely. It had a deep dark green center and five petals extending outwards from it in a counter-clockwise star pattern, with the tip of each petal having a small lightly-tinted pastel yellow ball.

Johnny knelt down to the flower, resting his hand on a petal. It felt like just a normal flower. Johnny then noticed just how big the flowers were, they were easily big enough for him to lie down on one if he curled up a bit, so he decided to try it. He carefully crawled onto the flower, wondering if it would collapse under his weight. Surprisingly, it didn't. "Huh!" Johnny exclaimed surprisedly. He turned over to lie on his back, still amazed the flower could support the weight of someone just around the age where one straddles the edge between boy and man*, and he looked up at the roof of the cave. Some more stalactites were hanging from there, slightly illuminated by Johnny's flashlight which had been laid down resting on the flower. Then, Johnny thought of something. "I kinda feel like showing these flowers to Dave," he spoke to himself. He got up from the flower, grabbing his flashlight, and he walked back to the cave's entrance.

At the cave's entrance, Johnny saw Dave deep in playing a game, having barely noticed Johnny moving from his peripheral vision. "Hm?" said Dave, glancing over from his game. "What are you coming out here for?" he asked. "Let me guess," he continued, "You're too scared to stay there any longer?" he finished with a smirk. "No, Dave," Johnny replied. "I just found some weird flowers in here and I wanted to show you," he explained. "Weird flowers?" Dave asked. "Yeah, let me show you. Come on!" Johnny said as he gestured for Dave to enter the cave with him. Dave sighed. "Okay," he said as he paused and saved his game. "I'll go." And so they went to the deep corner of the cave where Johnny found the flowers.

After a few minutes, they arrived at the flowers. "Wow," Dave said in amazement. "They really _are_ weird flowers." "Yeah, that's why I wanted to show you them," Johnny replied. "Just look at this!" Johnny took a running start and leaped onto the yellow flower, landing on it with grace similar to that of a near-teenager landing onto a flower, and it barely buckled from the force. "Wow!" Dave repeated himself in amazement at the flower's ability to hold up a person. Dave then walked over to another flower next to the one Johnny was on, specifically the red one, which was Dave's favorite color, and sat upon it. They both staid there for a while, contemplating the beauty of the cave and nature and stuff... Then the yellow flower Johnny was on shot up its petals, folding themselves around him and trapping him inside, somewhat like a Venus flytrap. "WHAT THE F-" shouted Dave, interrupted by the red flower trapping him inside in the same way. He struggled as much as he could, which wasn't much considering the small space, but as the time passed, the movements became less and less. Eventually, all movement from inside the flowers came to a halt, and the flowers slowly let down their petals from their folded-up positions... Nothing was in them. It was like there was never anyone there in the first place.

* * *

_'...'_

_'...'_

_'...?'_

_'... ...!?'_

_'wh... what is this...? ...'_

_'that_ _flower... it... agh...'_

_'I... can't move...'_

_'...actually... the top... of my head... I can almost... move... it... rrn-_ _‼'_

_'I feel my head going further up... come on... almost there...!'_

_'There! My eyes are above... the ground!? I was in the ground!?'_

Johnny found himself mostly underground, with his eyes having just come up after a few minutes of struggling. He paused for a moment, confused as to how he was there, before resuming his struggle to get himself out from the ground. He slowly forced himself out from the ground, revealing more of his face, before he realized something very concerning.

_'Why am I not breathing!?'_

Johnny tried to force himself to breath, but all he accomplished was giving himself a slight cramp in his upper abdomen. _'Okay, I am **definitely** getting out of here right now to figure out just what is happening!'_ he thought to himself before using all the strength he could muster up to do one thing, go up. He got his shoulders out of the dirt much quicker than his face, and Johnny noticed something else.

_'Why am I yellow!?'_

His skin was yellower than that of any character on _The Simpsons_ , bright as the flower he had been ensnared in beforehand. He panicked, forcing out his arm from the ground in less time than it would take for a sadistic child to come up with the idea of burning ants with a magnifying glass, with more fervor than that of an overenthusiastic flight attendant bringing alcohol and caviar to a first-class passenger. His arm was just as yellow as his shoulder, with the end having a small hand with three fingers on it, equally spaced, like the hand of a baby born without a pinky finger and a thumb, but flatter and pointier. He stared in wonder at the extremity.

_'Why ANY OF THIS!?'_

Johnny forced his arm down and pushed, bringing the rest of his body above the ground. He saw that the yellow color of his arm carried on to the rest of his body, which looked much different from a regular human. He had a short, smooth cylindrical body with two short legs, and feet with a shape mirroring his hands, having three equally spaced toes. Johnny noticed something moving from his peripheral vision, and looked up, only to find... a sprout on top of his head. Specifically, he had a long yellow stem with a white bud on top, surrounded by five leaves in a starlike pattern, similar to the flower he had been trapped by earlier. After a small pause in wonder and confusion which may or may not have involved some intense freaking out, Johnny stopped looking at himself, and instead began to look at his surroundings. He was in what seemed to be a large cave, somewhat like the one he was in earlier. Some slightly familiar-looking and very larger than usual stalagmites stood mightily from the ground, and similar stalactites hung tightily from the cave's ceiling. There was also a red sprout coming from the ground next to Johnny!? _'That's gotta be Dave,'_ Johnny thought.

Johnny walked over to the red sprout and stood in front of it, looking at it closely. It was just like the sprout on Johnny's head, with a white bud and five leaves. Johnny reached out a hand and grabbed the sprout, almost instinctively. He tugged on it a little bit, and he could faintly hear an annoyed hum from below the ground. Johnny paused, feeling reaffirmed and slightly surprised, and started to wonder if he could talk in the form he was in. He removed his hand from Dave's sprout and tried to focus on making a sound with his voice. It took some time, but he managed to get himself to talk in a way that sounded very similar to regular human speech.

After a while of saying simple sentences to get himself used to speech in his new form, Johnny refocused his attention on the red sprout. Johnny again grabbed the sprout and pulled with all his might...!

* * *

_'...'_

_'...'_

_'...?!'_

_'the top of my head... somethings squeezing it... Mmnnh, nouuh...'_

_'oh, it stopped... what's that... mumbling?'_

_'...'_

_'that thing squeezing my head is back... aagh!'_

"Woaahh!"

Dave found himself being flung into the air, being thrown by an odd yellow flower-like creature with big ears. "What the-!?" Dave tried to say, but ended up letting out a noise that sounded like "Oa da!?" He landed abruptly. "You ahrait?" the flower creature... No, wait, this is familiar. Dave had seen this thing before. It was in an old Nintendo GameCube game called "Pikmin", and this thing was that game's namesake... a Pikmin! So, "You ahrait?" the _Pikmin_ asked Dave. Dave tried to respond, but he found himself unable to talk right... "Ah... I ahw... Uh... ...Yeah," Dave said, nodding. "An' I assume you're Dave?" it asked. "Yeah, uh, ahn... Ahn y-yuu'ae... uh, Johnny?" Dave tried to say 'Yeah, and you're Johnny?'. The Pikmin nodded. "Yup," it, or rather, _he, Johnny,_ said. "Wha'ss goin on? Why ae you a Pi... uh, a Pikuh... Pikmin (What's going on? Why are you a Pikmin?)" Dave asked. "A what?" Johnny asked in return. "A Pikmin! Y'know, these li'l plant things from the game series also called Pikmin!" Dave replied. "Huh... Never heard of 'em," Johnny said. "So that's what we are?"

"Wait, 'we'? What do you mean by..." Dave paused and looked at himself. Sure enough, he looked just like a Pikmin, with the same type of body as Johnny, but while Johnny was a Yellow Pikmin with ears, Dave was a Red Pikmin with a pointy nose. "Huh," he uttered. Dave and Johnny just stood there for a bit awkwardly, unsure of what to say. "...Well," Johnny eventually said, breaking the fragile veil of silence, "I guess we should try to find a way to turn back to people?" "Yeah, but... how?" Dave asked. "How should _I_ know?" Johnny retorted. "That was a rhetorical question!" Dave replied, annoyed. "OK, well, I guess let's just..." Johnny said, pausing. "...get out of here." "Sounds good," Dave said.

Johnny and Dave looked around. They were in a cave, like the one they were in earlier, but it was about sixty times larger than that one. There also weren't any flowers there. The cave looked like it was very old, with there being some small-ish holes in the roof from which sunlight shone down onto the ground. "If this cave is as similar to _that_ one as I think," Johnny said, looking up at the cave's walls. "then it won't be that hard to get out of here." He turned to Dave. "Follow me," Johnny ordered.

And so they went.

Johnny and Dave walked for a few minutes, talking as they went. "I'm just saying, if you _really_ wanna build tables, you've gotta study the Bible first!" Dave rambled on. "But what do they have to do with each other?!" "It's very simple! Jesus was a carpenter... and you know, Mario was originally supposed to be a carpenter, too! Playing _Super Mario Bros_ is experiencing a Japanese take on the stories shown in the Bible!" "W-What?!" "Just think about it! Mario is Jesus, Peach is God, and Toad is Jesus' 12 disciples! This is simple logic, man- wait did you hear that noise" Dave and Johnny looked over to their left, seeing an odd pink bug crawling up from the ground. "What is THAT?!" Johnny shouted in surprise. "It's one of those enemies from Pikmin! A Sheargrub, I think," Dave explained. "This kind can't hurt us." Johnny glared at the Sheargrub. It was small, pale, and cute. Its body was shaped like an oblong ribbed pink yolk with two soft-looking mandibles, forming a cute mouthy shape, and it had a pair of eyes, small and black, perfecting its adorableness.

"Aw~!" Johnny cooed, leaning down to it. "It's kinda cute!" Dave stifled a chuckle as he watched Johnny pet the Sheargrub. "You really like that Sheargrub, don'tcha?" Dave asked, slightly mockingly. "Yes, it's BEAUTIFUL!" Johnny answered loudly, hugging the Sheargrub (which looked slightly anxious at the whole situation). "This isn't really like you, y'know," Dave said. "Well, we're the only people here, and who knows how long we'll be like this!" Johnny replied, somehow both playfully and fearfully. "If we get back to being humans, will you even remember me loving this Sheargrub by that time?"

"Well," said Dave, "now that you say that, I am _definitely_ gonna remember this!" "Aw-" Johnny stopped for a second. "Wait... Do you hear that?" he asked. "Hear what?" Dave asked confusedly. "I can..." Johnny focused on something. "I can hear something... stomping? It's definitely somewhere near us."

Dave's eyes opened wide in realization and terror. _'_ _Something stomping?! Maybe it could be... Well, it makes sense, everything right now is pointing to us being in **that** world, so then it's a... a...'_ he thought, as he noticed a shadow pop from around a corner that Johnny was staring straight at. _'A...'_

**ROOOAAAR!**

"A BULBORB!" he shouted, running into Johnny to get them out of the way of the giant beast that charged at them, trampling over the Sheargrub. "What the-!?" Johnny sputtered as they fell to the ground. "Run!" Dave shouted, hurredly fleeing from the Bulborb. "Wait! Dave-" Johnny halted as he heard the thing behind him turn around, prompting him to turn around and face it.

It was an odd creature. It had a body shaped like an egg on its side, being colored a pale peachy color on its more pointed end with the color transitioning to a robust red with white spots on the rounder side. It had two eyes that stood tall on stalks, easily the size of Johnny himself (as a Pikmin) twice over. It also had a mouth. Specifically, it had a _giant_ mouth, splitting its pointed front end in half, noticeably salivating. Then it noticed him.

"Oh, SHIT" Johnny yelled as he got up and just barely dodged it running at him, fleeing to the same direction he saw Dave go. After a few minutes of running, Johnny finally caught up to Dave. "Why'd you leave me there!?" Johnny asked irritatedly. Dave slightly flinched, shrugging softly. "S-Sorry... I mean, I told you to run, but..." He sighed. "Well, I thought you would go too! I didn't mean to leave you." Johnny groaned angrily, slightly facepalming. "At least I'm not dead," he said. "Yeah..." Dave replied.

They stood there awkwardly for a while, silent. "Hey," said Dave, breaking the silence. "I think I know what's going on here." "Really?" Johnny asked. "Then what is it?" Dave took a 'deep breath', explaining with "Well, I think that since we've become Pikmin, and there was a Sheargrub earlier, and also a Bulborb, which are all from the _Pikmin_ series of games, I feel like it's safe to say..." He paused for a moment.

"It's official. We're in the world of the _Pikmin_ games," he said.

"...Is that a good or bad thing?" Johnny asked. Dave thought for a moment. "A bad thing for _you_ , at least. You said you've never played a _Pikmin_ game before, so that means you don't know anything that's going on. The world of _Pikmin_ is like nature... It's merciless," Dave explained. "Just about anything can and will kill you along with everything you love, and then throw the corpses of you and your loved ones into a volcano, but not before eating them, pooping them out, and eating them again and puking them out and pooping on them!" Confused and mildly terrified, Johnny stared at Dave, and Dave noticed. "OK, that _may_ have been a _bit_ of an exaggeration, but it's still true! This world is _dangerous!_ " Dave clarified. "Yeah, I get it," Johnny replied, silently mourning for that Sheargrub.

They then walked for a few more minutes, eventually coming to the mouth of the cave.

"Oh! Finally!" Dave exclaimed joyfully. "I was getting so bored!" "Yeah, me too," Johnny replied. They looked outside at the vast world before them... or at least they would have done that if there wasn't grass coming up to their heads and blocking the view. "Uh, Dave, why is the grass so tall here?" Johnny asked, glancing over to Dave. "Didn't I tell you before? Pikmin are really short, like less than an inch tall," Dave explained. Johnny slightly flinched, speechless. "An... _inch?!_ " he shouted. "Yeah," Dave said flatly. "barely." "Wow... No wonder you say that this world is dangerous! When we're so small, basically anything can kill us! Seriously, if we're an inch tall, then that Bulborb must have been the size of a rabbit! So many things that would barely even hurt a human could tear us to pieces!" Johnny said panickedly. "Yeah, but this small size is also something good. We can survive falls from very high places, and we can be really stealthy," Dave replied, trying to be reassuring.

"Anyways, let's go," said Dave, walking into the thick veil of grass. Johnny followed closely behind him.

* * *

*100 lbs (45.35 kg)  
Word count: 3445  
(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi there! Thank you for reading this. I've had this idea in my head for a while now, and now I'm finally writing it down and sharing it with you all. Please make sure to review this; I'd love the feedback!)


	2. Flying Vegetables

Johnny and Dave walked through the grass, parting the tall bright green blades with each step. The sun was shining above them right in the middle of the sky, acting as a bright beacon in the middle of the familiarly blue sky. As they went, they didn't talk very much, opting instead to look at their surroundings. The environment was both new and old, since although it was just like a typical Earth landscape, they were viewing it from just an inch above the ground as Pikmin.

Johnny turned to Dave. "Hey, Dave," he said, drawing Dave's attention. "So you said we're inside of a video game now? How does that work?" "I have no idea, but I know that it's where we are now," Dave replied. "It probably has something to do with those flowers," he continued. "Yeah, duh," Johnny responded. Dave seemed to ignore him. "I didn't realize it at the time, but those were Candypop Buds. In the game, they're flowers that you can throw a Pikmin into and change its color to that of the Bud," Dave explained. "Oh..." Johnny murmured, eyes widening in realization.

"Ah," Dave uttered. "I just realized I haven't told you much about the Pikmin themselves. You see, there are many different types of Pikmin," he began to explain. "First, there are the Red Pikmin, which is the kind that I am. They are stronger than the other kinds, and are fire-resistant. Then there are Yellow Pikmin, which is what you are. They're lighter than the rest, which lets them be thrown higher, and they're also electricity-resistant. There's also Blue Pikmin, whi- OW!"

Dave had walked headfirst into a tree.

"Haha!" Johnny laughed.

Argh! _JOHNNY!_ " Dave shouted. "Why didn't you warn me!?"

"I just thought it'd be funny to watch you walk into it~" Johnny replied.

Dave grumbled angrily. "Well, as I was saying, Blue Pikmi- AGH!"

He looked down to his right leg, which was being gnawed on by a purple bug that looked like a Sheargrub. "Dammit! A Male Sheargrub!?" he shouted, readying a fist, and then...

**Bam!** Dave punched the Sheargrub at full force, causing it to squeal in pain and let go of Dave's leg. Dave grabbed the dazed Sheargrub by the forehead, forcing his fingers into its head, and he slammed his head into it over and over. Slam. Slam. He continued until it finally went completely limp. He dropped its body on the ground, and what appeared to be a blue soul emanated from it.

Johnny was speechless. "...U-Um..." he stuttered.

"That was a bit... _violent_ , don'tcha think?" he asked.

Dave turned around to Johnny, looking slightly confused himself. "Yeah... It's like some sort of primal instinct just... overtook me..." he said, pausing for a while. "...but I guess it makes sense since Pikmin, like the rest of this world, are brutal creatures, even if they don't look the part."

Johnny silently and nervously looked back down to Dave's leg. It looked... not so good. It had noticeable bruises and tears and was even slightly bent from where the Sheargrub had clamped down, near the ankle.

"We haven't been in this world for even a day and you're already hurt pretty bad," he said anxiously. "You weren't kidding when you said this world was dangerous."

Dave nodded, closing his eyes. "Yeah," he said, laying a hand over his wounded leg. He winced slightly, resting against the tree. Johnny walked over and sat down on the ground next to him.

They sat under the tree for a minute. Johnny looked around, eventually looking up into the far-off branches of the tree. He listened to the wind blow relaxingly, felt a chill go up his spine, and he saw how the branches branched off. There was a vine coiled around the tree, going up and wrapping around a branch, and holding some odd yellow fruit close to the branch.

He turned to Dave.

"Dave, do you see that up there?" Johnny asked.

"See what?"

"That fruit thing on that branch there, look!"

Dave looked up, trying to see what Johnny was talking about. "...You mean that yellow thing tangled in that vine?" he asked.

"Yes," Johnny answered. "Do you know what that is?"

Dave squinted at it, thinking. "I think it's..."

He trailed off for a moment.

"...Um... I think it might be an... Onion?" Dave said hesitantly.

"An _Onion_?" Johnny asked incredulously.

"Yeah, an Onion. They basically act as shelter for Pikmin. I think that one up there is a Yellow Onion, which holds Yellow Pikmin," Dave explained. "I wonder why it ended up trapped in a vine..."

Johnny looked back to the 'Onion'. "I'm gonna try and see if I can climb up there," he said as he grabbed onto the tree's thick bark.

"Be careful," said Dave.

It took a bit, but Johnny managed to go up the tree. He climbed up, grasping and pushing off of the grooves in the bark, and after a few minutes he reached the branch.

He walked carefully over it, making sure not to lose his balance and fall. The vine coiled over the branch, and Johnny followed it up to where it had trapped the Onion.

He cautiously leaned over it, reaching out a hand to the Onion. He leaned more and more, feeling himself begin to slip off of the branch, but he continued, grabbing the vine for support. He leaned over a bit more, grabbing the vine with both hands. He looked at the Onion. It was round and yellow, looking like a yellow cherry with a flower instead of a stem. On the bottom, it had four black extensions arranged in the shape of a Y, from which some weird bright powder occasionally puffed out. Johnny brought his body close to the vine, climbing down a bit until he came 'face-to-face' with the Onion. He reached to it with his right hand, firmly grasping the vine with his left, and he laid his hand on the Onion's surface. It felt smooth and slightly squishy, like a slightly overripe peach without the fuzz.

Johnny brought his hand back, and he looked around. "How will I get this down..." he quietly said to himself.

Nature decided to answer his question for him, as he didn't notice the vine stretching and thinning just above him. The vine tore, causing Johnny and the Onion to fall. Johnny yelled in fear, gripping onto the Onion.

They neared the ground. Johnny's life flashed before his eyes. He remembered that one time where his mischievous brother unscrewed the cap for the salt shaker when he wasn't looking, causing him to dump all the salt on his food. He remembered the dare that Dave made that landed them in this scenario. He remembered when he learned the word 'remember'.

But then it was interrupted by him almost falling from the now stationary Onion! It was hovering just above the ground, with small blue flames coming from the black extensions on its bottom, and the flower on top was spinning so fast the petals appeared to merge into a white blur.

Johnny let go of the Onion, falling on the ground. He stared up at it in awe. The Onion flew to be around five times higher than him, and the fire from the bottom-middle intensified as some sort of yellow tentacle appeared from inside the other three. The tentacles extended out to the ground, acting as a tripod on which the Onion's body stood. The flower's spin slowed down and the fire from its bottom went out, with an otherworldly light emanating in its place.

**Clap Clap!**

Startled, Johnny looked over to his left. Dave was standing up, limping slightly and clapping. "Nice job!" he said.

"Uh, thanks," Johnny replied. He stood up, gazing at the Onion. It looked beautiful. Its roundness and its yellow color and flower were simply captivating. Its main fruit body seemed to contract slightly, and Johnny could almost think that he saw something that looked like a yellow seed pop out from it. At least, he almost thought he saw it until it hit him in the face. Then he definitely saw it.

"Agh! Ow..." he said melodramatically, sitting up from where he fell as Dave laughed loudly. Johnny glanced at Dave angrily for a moment; he looked back in front of him and noticed a yellow sprout with a leaf on top coming from the ground. _'A Pikmin,'_ he thought.

Johnny walked over to the sprout and grabbed it. He pulled firmly, flinging the freshly plucked Pikmin up through the air, and him with it. "Agh!" he yelled as he fell to the ground, bonking his head. "Darn it..." he muttered angrily, standing back up again. He turned to face the Pikmin. It looked like a regular Yellow Pikmin. It had two large ears on the side of its head and two beady eyes, and right on top of its head was a long, leaf-topped stem almost as long as the rest of its body. Its torso was shaped like a jelly bean from which four stick-like limbs stuck out. Its hands were regular, too, being just three fingers connected to a small, flat palm.

Johnny looked the Pikmin in the eyes. "...Hi," he said hesitantly. The Pikmin leaned its head to its right and made a high-pitched, confused-sounding hum. "HmM?" "... _Hi,_ " Johnny repeated. "A... Ai?" the Pikmin said, trying to copy what Johnny was saying. "Hi." "A... H-Hi." "Hi!" "Hi!" They continued saying "Hi" to each other for a while, only stopping when Dave interrupted with "Are you gonna say anything other than 'Hi' or what?"

Johnny looked over to Dave. "We're just having a conversation!" he replied.

"The word 'Hi' isn't a conversation!" Dave retorted.

"Says who?"

"Says _me_ , and I'm right!" said Dave confidently.

Johnny sniggered slightly before turning back to the Pikmin. _'This Pikmin seems to have a quick grasp of sound. I wonder how good its language skills are,_ _'_ Johnny thought.

Johnny reached out and held the Pikmin's hand with his right while pointing with his left. "Hand," he said. "Ha...n," the Pikmin tried to repeat. "Hand," Johnny reiterated. "Han." "Han _d._ " "Han... Hand." "Mm-hm, hand." "Hand!" Johnny let go of the Pikmin's hand and pet its head. "Good, uh... Good boy, I guess!" The Pikmin made a high-pitched squeak in glee.

"Hey, this is cool and all, but could you stop with the language lesson?" Dave heckled.

"Just a sec," Johnny replied.

"At least see what's going on inside the Onion? I've always been curious about that since I first played _Pikmin_ ," said Dave.

"OK, OK." Johnny turned away from the Pikmin, looking towards the Onion.

He walked towards one of its yellow legs and laid his hand on it. It was soft, and it felt like a giant noodle of slightly moist ramen. Johnny grabbed the leg and started to climb up it. He was getting closer to the black nozzle-like extension that the leg was extending out of. He climbed into the small hole, fitting himself inside. Johnny was inside the Onion. It was quite dim, with light barely penetrating through the Onion; most of the light was from the holes that the legs poked through. The walls of the Onion were soft like its legs, and some sort of liquid seemed to slowly seep from some spots. It was also noticeably warm. It wasn't hot, just comfortably warm, almost like it was a house with air conditioning and soft, wet plant walls and it could fly. So not like a house at all. Johnny felt relaxed in the Onion. He felt like he was home...

* * *

Dave had been sitting underneath a tree for a while now. He was starting to get bored, and he wondered why Johnny was taking so long in the Onion. He got up, wincing at the pain it caused in his injured leg, and he limped over to the Onion, where the Yellow Pikmin that Johnny had plucked earlier was standing. "Hi!" it said as it noticed Dave. "Hey," said Dave. He looked over to the Onion, specifically at the black extension in the middle of its bottom, from which there was a soft blue light emanating. _'Maybe he can't come out until someone calls him. In the games, no Pikmin come from the Onion until you call them out,'_ Dave thought. He stood under the light and looked up. "Ah! Ow, ow!" he cried out, momentarily blinded by looking up into the bright light. "Alright, that's a bad idea..."

Dave stood under the light without looking at it this time, instead he tilted his head up slightly. "Hey, Johnny!" he yelled out, to no response. "Johnny!" No response. "Johnny!"

Dave yelled Johnny's name for a while, refusing to give up.

* * *

"...ny! Johnnyy! Hey, Johnny!"

"H-Huh?" Johnny mumbled, getting up from the Onion's floor. "Have I been sleeping...?" He stood up straight, stretching slightly. "Johnny!" He heard Dave yell. Johnny went over to a hole in the Onion. "Yeah?" he asked loudly. "Oh, finally, you're listening. Were you sleeping in there or something?" Dave asked. "Ah, yeah... It's really relaxing in here! Sorry!" Johnny responded. "Well, come out!" "OK!" Johnny crawled down and out of the Onion, squinting as the sun's bright rays of light assaulted his vision.

"Hi, Dave," said Johnny. "Hey, Johnny!" said Dave. "So, what's the inside of the Onion like?" "Oh, it's like this soft dome room that-" "Johnny!" Johnny looked over to his left. "Johnny!" the Pikmin repeated. "Oh," said Dave, "It must have learned your name when I was saying it earlier." Dave pointed to Johnny. "Johnny," he said. "Johnny," said the Pikmin. "Yeah. Johnny." "Johnny!" "Johnny~" They continued saying Johnny's name for a while, only stopping when Johnny pointed to Dave and said "Dave." "Dabe?" the Pikmin repeated. "Dave." "Dave..." "Dave!" "Dave!" They then said Dave's name for a while.

"OK, I feel like that's enough," said Dave as he started to walk away. "Oh, OK," said Johnny, walking over to Dave and gesturing for the Pikmin to follow them. "I think that there should also be a Red Onion somewhere nearby, since there was a Yellow Onion in that tree." They walked in the grass for a few minutes, Johnny and Dave talking all the while. "As I was saying, what's the inside of the Onion like?" asked Dave, prompting a detailed explanation from Johnny. "Ah, I see," said Dave. "Very interesting." "Yeah, I guess it is, and..." Johnny stopped. " _What_ is that weird flower?" he asked, pointing to a weird flower. It had a normal green stem about as long as two Pikmin, and it had normal white petals. The weird thing about it was that in the middle of the flower, there was a shiny, thick, and circular red object with a white '1' on it. "Oh, that's a Pellet Posy," Dave explained.

Johnny walked over to it. "A Pellet Posy, huh?" he asked. "Yeah, they're called that because of the pellet they have in their flower. The pellet can be taken down and brought to an Onion to make more Pikmin," Dave explained further. "Huh..." Johnny mumbled. "...Oh?" The Yellow Pikmin that Johnny had plucked earlier walked to be beside Johnny. It stared at the flower creepily, walking towards it slowly without taking its eyes off of it. It walked forward until it was touching the stem, at which point it began to climb up the stem, still staring directly at the flower. When it reached the flower, it started to headbutt it from the back, **Whack! Whack!** Whacking until the flower broke and the pellet fell down to the ground. The Pikmin climbed back down from the now-drooping stem and walked to the pellet. It picked up the pellet and started to walk off with it. "It must be going to the Yellow Onion," said Dave.

"WAIT AREN'T WE WALKING AROUND TO FIND A RED ONION!?" he screamed, causing the Pikmin to stop and look over to Dave and then Dave snatched the pellet right out of its hands and ran off.

"Huh!? Wait, Dave!" said Johnny, grabbing the Pikmin by the hand and running to follow Dave.

They ran and ran for around two minutes, somehow unable to catch Dave even with his injured leg, eventually reaching an area akin to a clearing, where the grass was much shorter than usual. There was another Onion, but the main bulb on top was red instead of yellow. It was a Red Onion, and Dave was running right under it. He raised the pellet he was carrying into the light, and the pellet began to glow blue. It hovered in place for a second, and then it flew into the Onion, slightly pushing it off the ground. The Onion's bulb swelled a bit, but then contracted as it shot two red seeds out from its top.

Johnny approached Dave from behind. "Hey!"

"Ah!" Dave said, startled.

"Ah, um, sorry about that. I was just eager to find this Red Onion. You see, since Pikmin can instinctively carry a pellet to the Onion, I realized that I could find this Red Onion by holding the Pellet," he explained. "Yeah, I know that sounds like a terrible excuse, but it's true! After all, how would I have found this Onion without it being so?"

Johnny sighed. "Yeah, I guess so," he said.

"It doesn't mean you're not a jerk..." he muttered.

"Huh?"

"Oh, nothing."

Dave turned his head to look at a leg of the Red Onion.

"I know you already described it to me, but I've just gotta see the inside of the Onion for myself. Besides, I'll have to get in it anyway," he said, turning back to Johnny for a moment.

"Hm?" Johnny hummed confusedly, cocking his head to the side in confusion. "What for?"

"Well," Dave started to explain, "the night is far too dangerous for Pikmin to stay out. We'll need to stay in the Onion overnight to avoid being eaten by nocturnal predators."

"Huh."

"Well, see ya later!" Dave headed to a leg of the Onion and climbed up it, going into the Onion.

"Bye," Johnny said and waved.

As Dave entered the Onion, Johnny turned his attention to the two sprouts that had came from the Onion. "Hey," he said to the Unnamed Yellow Pikmin, drawing its attention. He stepped over to one of the sprouts.

"Pull," he said as he tugged on the stem, pulling the Red Pikmin out from the ground. He then grabbed UYP by the hand and put its hand over the stem of the other Red Pikmin's sprout.

"Put your _Hand_ on the _Stem_ ," he said, also pointing to the stem as he said it. "And _pull._ " He mimicked the motions of pulling just to be sure.

UYP nodded slightly and started to tug on the sprout, causing the Red Pikmin to be pulled out of the ground. UYP didn't have good technique for pulling it out, though. It was pulling directly up, awkwardly forcing the Red Pikmin's head out of the ground in a slightly painful-looking manner. "Wait, wait, wait!" Johnny cried out, grabbing the stem. "You're gonna rip it if you pull it like that. You gotta pull it like this!" He took UYP's hands off the stem and pulled the stem for it, correctly this time. The Red Pikmin flew out from the ground. "Cool," Johnny said as he turned around to face the two Pikmin he had plucked. The first one looked like a normal Red Pikmin, having a very similar appearance to Dave, but the second one had a slightly malformed nose, likely from UYP's attempt at plucking it from the ground.

It was then that Johnny had an idea. He walked over to the Red Pikmin, pointed to its nose, looked over to UYP and said "Nose."

* * *

Dave entered the Onion, eager to see what it was like for himself. The Red Onion had a round, dome-like interior like Johnny described. The walls were colored a robust mauve, and they were just transparent enough to let in light to see, but it was dim. Dave felt the wall, and he noticed it was slightly sticky with some sort of liquid. _'Ew, what is this stuff?'_ he thought in mild disgust. He raised a liquid-coated hand to his nose and sniffed it. "Hmm..." he hummed. Its smell was odd, almost smelling sweet, yet it also smelled like... grass. He started to wonder what it was and began to stand, but he was interrupted by a stabbing pain in his leg.

Dave looked down at his injured leg, then back to the sticky, nectar-like liquid in his hand. "Hm... Maybe..." He squatted down and rubbed his hand on his leg, and he felt the pain weaken as he coated on the liquid. "Ahhh..." he sighed softly. He looked at his leg. He saw the tears in it closing and sealing using the liquid applied, and the bruises and bends cleared and straightened out. "Woah."

* * *

Word count: 3603

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi again! I planned to make this chapter longer, but I noticed it was already pretty long and also I got writer's block. I'm going to try to make every chapter at least 3000 words long. Also, I feel like this chapter was a bit... repetitive? I think I structured a lot of my sentences similarly. Also, if you're wondering, I'll be uploading chapters weekly every Friday. Again, please make sure to review this, and thank you for reading.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This second chapter is another example of how mediocre my writing was when I first started this fic. It's not horrible, but the formatting I originally used was godawful. I had no idea where to break paragraphs. I reformatted this chapter for your viewing pleasure, but if you want to see this chapter in its original awful formatting, you can simply view it on fanfiction.net.  
> I also went a bit linguistics nerd for a bit and went off track in this chapter. I'm actually really into linguistics, and it irritates me when most fanfics out there with any aspect of language in them completely screw it up. I tried to 'do it right' here, but I didn't really do a good job, I think. The speed that the Pikmin acquired English and the fact that the Unnamed Yellow Pikmin just... immediately understood the imperative mood seem off to me. Then again, they're Pikmin instead of human, but arguably that makes it even worse, since they're never shown speaking language like humans ingame...  
> What do you think? I appreciate any and all comments!


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